Tips on how to Hydrate for Workouts: Before, During and After

Water! Everyone needs water, and everybody probably must drink more. Dehydration is considered one of the most important dietary aspects that individuals mess up and suffer from – this might range from a drop in strength to feeling sick to even possibly dying. None of that is sweet, and all of it is well preventable. In this text, we will run through some great hydration suggestions for working to make sure you stay hydrated and kicking ass.

What Is Dehydration?

Dehydration gets a foul rap. That is primarily as a consequence of semantics, as we frequently use the word incorrectly basically conversation. That is semantical but we all the time wish to share our knowledge.

So, we frequently speak about “dehydration” as if it is usually bad. In point of fact, dehydration is just the process of losing water in the identical way that “hydration” is the process of consuming water. The truth is, our body experiences dehydration and hydration throughout the day, and it’s estimated that our body sees a turnover of about 10% total water weight¹.

So long as you are replacing the lack of water, dehydration is only a bodily process that helps to keep up health. The important thing word is “replace”. Dehydration becomes an issue when an individual doesn’t replace the lost water, which may end up in various issues, which we’ll discuss below.

The purpose at which dehydration becomes an issue is generally accepted to be around a 2% drop in body mass². At this point, you are said to be in a state of hypohydration, which implies you’ve got a low hydration level that may affect physiological processes. With all that said, after we discuss being dehydrated, that is what we’re talking about (Like we said, it’s just semantics nevertheless it’s nice to know).

What Causes Dehydration?

Lack of water can occur from quite a few causes. Lots of essentially the most common include;

• Urine
• Bowel movement
• Sweating
• Some Medication

Of all of the possible causes of dehydration, excessive sweating is most answerable for medical and performance issues. Our bodies perspire to chill down and stop overheating, whether it’s from heat or exercise. The truth is, this adaptation allows humans to have the very best endurance capabilities within the animal kingdom!

Nevertheless, when working too hard or in the warmth, our bodies are at higher risk of overheating which implies they need more sweat to chill down. Subsequently, whenever you’re training for an prolonged duration or in high heat levels, you could drink, or you should have problems.

How Does Dehydration Affect Working Out?

Water loss can sometimes be difficult to replenish as a consequence of several aspects, including:

• Extreme heat and humidity
• High sweat rates
• Intense or prolonged exercise
• Poor nutrition and hydration planning

For athletes, dehydration can set in faster than previously thought, significantly impacting performance. Research indicates that even a 1% decrease in body weight from water loss can result in noticeable declines in performance, particularly affecting cognitive functions like decision-making³.

Has someone ever asked you an issue you found difficult to reply after a tough workout? Or possibly you just found considering difficult?

That might possibly be as a consequence of dehydration.

As dehydration progresses to a 2% loss in body weight, performance deteriorates further, resulting in:

• 8.3% reduction in muscular endurance
• 5.5% reduction in muscular strength
• 5.8% reduction in anaerobic power
• Increased perceived exertion (RPE)

Furthermore, there’s a dose-response in that the warmer you get, the greater the deficit in performance. For each additional degree Celsius increase in skin temperature at a 2% lack of body water, performance can decline by one other 1.0-1.5%.

Dehydration Can Even Cause Muscle Loss!

Yep! Dehydration can actually cause a decrease in muscle mass and disrupt the anabolic strategy of constructing more muscle. Now this isn’t going to occur because one session but chronically understanding in a dehydrated state can have negative results.

The precise mechanisms aren’t totally understood but their are several that show a connection between hydration and muscle loss;

• Decreased anabolic signaling as a consequence of lack of cell swelling⁴
• Decreased strength through disruption in firing⁵
• Increased stress on the body
• Decrease in muscle protein synthesis⁶

Other research has suggested that dehydration can increase DOMS and recovery time⁷.

Now, you’re not going to experience any major issues from one bout of mild dehydration but why even let or not it’s a problem when staying hydrated is very easy? We consider staying hydrated is very easy and can optimize your training, it’s a little bit of a no brainer.

Be Sure To Manage Your Electrolytes!

Have you ever ever heard of somebody “drowning” from drinking an excessive amount of water? Well, they didn’t actually drown but reasonably disrupted their blood’s solute levels. Collectively, that is referred to as “water intoxication”.

Your body’s solute levels are intricately managed internally reminiscent of your potassium-sodium pump. This is vital as they’re answerable for a wide range of body functions. When these get out of whack, an individual can experience various issues reminiscent of;

• Headache
• Personality changes
• Irritability
• Changes in behavior
• Confusion
• Nausea
• Cramping
• ……you get the concept.

Certainly one of the more common conditions seen in athletes, especially endurance athletes (or any sport of prolonged duration or in hot climates) is called hyponatremia⁸. This can be a condition caused when the sodium levels of an individual’s blood drops too low. 

It occurs in endurance athletes as they’re performing for prolonged periods of time meaning they’re sweating lots. As sweat incorporates various elements reminiscent of potassium and sodium, these will drop as well. Now, in the event that they decide to hydrate with only water, they are going to dilute the answer of their blood causing very low levels of sodium. This can lead to a spread of issues reminiscent of cramps, confusion and even death.

This is definitely quite common and moderate conditions are likely to affect 10-15% of endurance runners after events. Nevertheless, around 0.5-1% experience critical conditions! 

We never really take into consideration this but “an excessive amount of water” can even have very serious effects. Now this only becomes a problem whenever you’re training extensively and sweating profusely so don’t think you may never drink plain water. Nevertheless, whenever you’re training, in case you do are likely to sweat lots, having some electrolytes isn’t a foul idea. That is as well as to a different profit we’ll speak about below.

The Best Hydration Tip: Stay Hydrated!!!

That is the best possible tip! After all it sounds redundant but allow us to explain. Have you ever heard of the suggestion to drink whenever you first feel thirsty? Well, feeling thirsty is the primary sign of mild dehydration. Give it some thought: Does your stomach growl after eating or whenever you have not eaten shortly?

Thirst is your body’s signaling that you have to drink; in other words, in case you drink when thirsty, you are playing catch up. We don’t need to dramatize this, as you will probably be okay in case you did use thirst as an indicator under normal circumstances. Nevertheless, why play catch up when it is easy to only stay ahead?

Quite than waiting to drink until you are thirsty, it’s best to drink periodically on a schedule to remain ahead of the sport. It will ensure your hydration needs are met!

With that said, your hydration game has 3 important points of interest. Whenever you realize that almost all athletes only devour about half of their water loss, you’ll see how necessary it’s to have a plan⁹.

Luckily, for most individuals training within the gym for 60 or 90 minutes, it can be pretty easy to maintain your water levels up but the identical principles apply to everyone.

Hydration Before Your Workout

The worst thing you may do is start your workout already dehydrated. Subsequently, don’t try this! It’s like starting a road trip on 1 / 4 tank or going to a gun fight but waiting until the motion to load your gun. (We’re unsure why you would be in a gunfight but in case you ever do, you should definitely have it loaded!)

Subsequently, make certain you are hydrated before you go to the gym. The quantity you will need to drink can vary widely depending on the person and their situation. Certainly one of the simplest indicators is the colour of your urine which we’ll go over below.

• In case your urine is dark, you may be more dehydrated and might want to drink 2-3 glasses (or could hint at a more significant issue).
• In case your urine is just your standard yellow, one big cup of water will probably be okay.
• In case your urine is a pale yellow, you’re good to go.
• In case your urine is obvious, you’re probably overhydrated.

One other indicator is how you are feeling. It will take some intentful learning in your part over time.

Nevertheless, seasoned athletes and lifters can gauge their hydration based on how they feel: sluggish or energetic? Dried out or fresh? Weak or strong? This is not perfect, nevertheless it is a simple indicator for knowledgeable lifters.

Have in mind that none of those are perfect and can take time in your part to learn your body.

One time that definitely deserves attention is those early morning lifters. After night’s sleep, you may be dehydrated within the morning. Subsequently, you will need to drink at the very least 8 fl ounces upon waking. The truth is, that is idea for everybody regardless in case you’re going to the gym.

Hydration During Your Workout

Irrespective of how much you drink pre-workout, you could drink during your workout to stay hydrated. At the least if you desire to maintain optimal performance.

You’ve got two methods. The primary is to easily guess and is probably adequate for most individuals, assuming you are doing a standard gym workout for 60 minutes. Crucial part is that you simply drink every quarter-hour.

If you desire to dial it in, you’d need to seek out your sweat rate; that is how much you sweat during a workout and is mostly prescribed as ml/hour. Knowing your sweat rate can show you how to calculate how much water you have to drink during your workout to remain properly hydrated.

Finding your sweat rate is simple, and also you measure your body weight before and after a training session.

To make the method easier, follow the following pointers:

• Weigh yourself before and after the training session in your underwear and even naked. Clothes will hold onto sweat and skew the load.
• Before you train, urinate first which is able to mitigate the necessity to urinate during your training. When you urinate through the training session, you’ll technically must collect it to your calculations after training.
• Then, after you finish training, weigh yourself again before you urinate. Again, you’re attempting to measure the difference in body weight through sweat and urinating will skew this.
• You have to also calculate any liquid you drink through the session.
• Using a shorter training duration (half-hour) after a correct warm-up can mitigate the prospect of needing to urinate and hydrate through the session.
• Remember to wipe off all of your sweat before your post-weigh-in.
• When you weigh in kilos, convert to grams. (1lb = 453 grams)
• Each gram lost = 1mL of water.

You then relate your water loss to the time of your training. Remember to convert the time to hour. For instance, in case you lost 400ml in half-hour, this could mean you’d lose 800ml in 60 minutes (1 hour). You might then divide this over the hour so it’s possible you’ll drink 200ml every quarter-hour. This doesn’t should be exact but you get the concept.

Hydration After Your Workout

Now that you’ve got finished your workout, you could replenish all lost water. Like drinking during your workout, you may do it simply: just you should definitely drink lots afterward.

One aspect that makes this easy is your post-workout shake. Keep in mind that any fluid will help hydrate you, not only water. The truth is, consider it or not, milk is a greater hydration fluid than water¹⁰! That is believed to be as a consequence of the consistency of milk and its makeup of protein, fats, and carbs.

Together, this requires more digestion than water, meaning it’s in your gut longer, allowing more water to be absorbed.

Subsequently, drinking a giant protein shake will be all you would like. On extra-hard workouts, we’ll sometimes make a protein shake with milk and add water to save lots of calories and increase hydration.

The technical method would require you to weigh yourself after after which replace lost water. Nevertheless, assuming you stay hydrated through the workout, most individuals can use the easy approach to having a giant shake afterward.

Recap:

Staying Hydrated: The (Other) Best Hydration Suggestions For Working Out

Staying hydrated appears to be pretty easy – drink more water.

The final idea is straightforward, but when it were, many individuals would not have issues! Keep in mind that you’ve got probably experienced a drop in performance from being dehydrated, whether you were aware of it or not!

Subsequently, we’ll provide the very best suggestions for staying hydrated while understanding in order that it is so simple as possible.

Use Amino Acids To Encourage Drinking

This one might take you by surprise, and it’s for the precise reasons you think that. Using amino acids during your workout may or may not show you how to, but that is not why we’re suggesting it. While taking amino acids intra-workout may not show you how to, it definitely won’t hurt you and might help! More importantly, they taste good!

Water will be bland and for many individuals, especially when not thirsty, and so they may refrain from taking a couple of sips. Nevertheless, in case you’ve ever tried various amino acid powders, they sometimes taste awesome! This implies they taste good and may improve your workout. Each of those could help encourage a lifter to drink.

Keep in mind that you desire to stay hydrated during your workout reasonably than wait until you are thirsty and having some tasty amino acids makes that easier.

Add Electrolytes To Your Drink

Above, we spoke about how drinking an excessive amount of water without replacing lost electrolytes can have its own set of problems. The perfect technique to prevent that is so as to add electrolytes to your drink!

Nevertheless, electrolytes also offer one other crucial profit!

Adding electrolytes to your drink is one other strategy that might help improve your hydration while lifting weights. In the identical manner as amino acids, many electrolyte drinks or powders taste really good. This provides the identical advantages of getting a tasty drink during your workout.

Maintaining your proper hydration and electrolyte levels is all the time a giant plus when you desire to optimize your training.

Hydrate Between Exercises

If you’ve got trouble remembering to drink, considered one of the simplest and most natural methods is to drink between each exercise.This might help start a routine and keep you in check. You might also set a beeper in case you wanted. Nevertheless, for us, that’s a bit annoying and we just find it easier to get into a standard routine.

Final Say On Staying Hydrated

Staying hydrated is straightforward and might have a profound effect in your performance. This is particularly true if you’ve got actually been training dehydrated and don’t know what it’s wish to train hydrated! The perfect part is that it’s a comparatively low cost solution…drink more water! Just do not forget that there isn’t any one-size-fits-all plan. Assuming you are a mean lifter training for an hour inside a gym, drinking every quarter-hour or so is all you would like, but you do need it so don’t ignore your hydration!

Take our workout plan quiz!

References:

1. Sawka, M. N., Cheuvront, S. N., & Kenefick, R. W. (2015). Hypohydration and Human Performance: Impact of Environment and Physiological Mechanisms. Sports Medicine, 45(S1), 51–60. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-015-0395-7‌
2. Sawka, M. N., Cheuvront, S. N., & Kenefick, R. W. (2015). Hypohydration and Human Performance: Impact of Environment and Physiological Mechanisms. Sports Medicine, 45(S1), 51–60. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-015-0395-7
3. Riebl, S. K., & Davy, B. M. (2013). The Hydration Equation: Update on Water Balance and Cognitive Performance. ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal, 17(6), 21–28. https://doi.org/10.1249/FIT.0b013e3182a9570f
4. Lorenzo, I., Serra-Prat, M., & Yébenes, J. C. (2019). The Role of Water Homeostasis in Muscle Function and Frailty: A Review. Nutrients, 11(8). https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11081857
5. Jones, L. C., Cleary, M. A., Lopez, R. M., Zuri, R. E., & Lopez, R. (2008). Energetic Dehydration Impairs Upper and Lower Body Anaerobic Muscular Power. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 22(2), 455–463. https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0b013e3181635ba5
6. Ritz, P., Salle, A., Simard, G., Dumas, J. F., Foussard, F., & Malthiery, Y. (2003). Effects of changes in water compartments on physiology and metabolism. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 57(2), S2–S5. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601894‌
7. DEHYDRATION AND EXERCISE-INDUCED MUSCLE DAMAGE: IMPLICATIONS FOR RECOVERY. (2020). Gatorade Sports Science Institute. https://www.gssiweb.org/sports-science-exchange/article/dehydration-and-exercise-induced-muscle-damage-implications-for-recovery/1000%23articleTopic_5‌
8. Knechtle, Chlíbková, Papadopoulou, Mantzorou, Rosemann, & Nikolaidis. (2019). Exercise-Associated Hyponatremia in Endurance and Ultra-Endurance Performance–Features of Sex, Race Location, Ambient Temperature, Sports Discipline, and Length of Performance: A Narrative Review. Medicina, 55(9), 537. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina55090537‌
9. Akerman, A. P., Tipton, M., Minson, C. T., & Cotter, J. D. (2016). Heat stress and dehydration in adapting for performance: Good, bad, each, or neither? Temperature, 3(3), 412–436. https://doi.org/10.1080/23328940.2016.1216255
10. Pegoretti, C., Antunes, A. E. C., Manchado-Gobatto, F. de B., & Capitani, C. D. (2015). Milk: An Alternative Beverage for Hydration? Food and Nutrition Sciences, 06(06), 547–554. https://doi.org/10.4236/fns.2015.66057